Far from being confined to the margins, violence occupies a crucial place in Beckett’s work. Such is the hypothesis behind this volume, which seeks to define the nature and the forms of this violence. Appearing in murderous outbursts occurring between specular doubles, or in tortures inspired by Sade, violence is understood as an effect of language, and can never be assuaged. The field of the image too is threatened by destruction, both by an intrusive gaze and by the arbitrary nature of words. A study of the second volume of Beckett’s Letters, and a chronology of his trip through Germany complete this exploration.
Llewellyn Brown
La Violence dans l’œuvre de Samuel Beckett : entre langage et corps. Paris, Lettres modernes Minard, « La Revue des Lettres modernes », Série « Samuel Beckett ; 4 », 2017. 462 pages.
ISBN 978-2-8124-5022-8
Publisher website: <http://www.lettresmodernesminard.org>
The Samuel Beckett Society 